TORONTO -- Early leads have been the norm, the pitching staff is rounding into form and confidence is growing by the day. The Toronto Blue Jays are doing everything right these days and its paying off with victories. Adam Lind hit a three-run homer and Mark Buehrle (4-4) worked five effective innings as the Blue Jays defeated the Colorado Rockies 5-2 on Wednesday to extend their season-high winning streak to eight games. Torontos bullpen allowed just one hit over four innings of scoreless relief and Casey Janssen earned his 16th save. "Everything is clicking right now for us," Buehrle said. "I cant pinpoint why everything is clicking but were getting a big hit, getting a big pitch when we need to, guys are playing great defence behind us. I dont know whats happening but hopefully (we can) continue it as long as we can." Toronto (35-36) completed a three-game sweep of the Rockies with the victory and moved just a game away from the .500 mark. The winning streak is the teams longest since a 10-gamer in 2008. Neil Wagner, Brett Cecil, Steve Delabar and Janssen all worked an inning apiece. "What can you say -- weve been saying it over and over every day," manager John Gibbons said of his bullpen. "Theres going to be times when theyre going to give up some runs but right now theyre on some kind of roll." Jose Bautista got things started in the opening frame when he reached on a throwing error by third baseman Nolan Arenado. The Toronto slugger moved to second on a single by Edwin Encarnacion and Lind followed by launching a 2-1 pitch over the right-field wall for his ninth homer of the year. The Toronto first baseman has had at least one hit in 19 of his last 22 starts and is batting a stellar .340 on the season. Its quite a difference from a year ago, when he spent part of the season in the minors. "Its surreal," Lind said. "Couldnt have written that script." Colorado (37-36) got on the board in the second inning when Jordan Pacheco led off with a double and scored on a single by Yorvit Torrealba. Toronto restored its three-run lead in the fourth inning. Colby Rasmus walked and moved to third when second baseman D.J. LeMahieu booted a Maicer Izturis grounder. Emilio Bonifacio hit a tailor-made double-play ball but used his speed to beat the throw to first, allowing Rasmus to score. Bonifacio promptly stole second but was stranded when Colorado starter Juan Nicasio (4-3) struck out Munenori Kawasaki. Carlos Gonzalez hit a frozen rope inside the right-field pole for his 21st homer of the season to open the fifth inning, making it a 4-2 game. The Rockies would not get any closer as they fell to 0-9 all-time at Rogers Centre. "This series we didnt play good baseball at all," Gonzalez said. "They pitched well, they scored a lot of runs." Buehrle didnt have his best stuff but still managed to prevent a big inning. The veteran left-hander gave up eight hits, a walk and two earned runs over five innings while striking out four. "There were just a lot of pitches I got away with today," he said. "Like I said, earlier in the season that wasnt happening. Those pitches were getting hit for home runs and getting us down in a hole early." Wagner struck out the first two batters he faced. LeMahieu then worked a 14-pitch at-bat before popping up to short. Cecil came on for the seventh and was dominant once again, striking out a pair and getting a ground-ball out. The left-hander has not allowed a hit since May 28, a club-record span of 38 batters. Cecil broke David Cones record of 36 set back in June 1995. "Its still sinking in," Cecil said of the accomplishment. "I didnt change anything, it is what it is. Im not here to break records, Im here to win a World Series." The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the seventh inning when Kawasaki tripled and scored on Melky Cabreras single. Toronto put runners on the corners but Lind flew out to deep right-centre field with two outs. Nicasio allowed four hits and four runs -- two of them earned -- over five innings. He had three strikeouts and walked a batter. Notes: Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes is set to play a series for triple-A Buffalo this weekend. The four-time all-star has been on the disabled list since April 13 after suffering a severe left ankle sprain. ... The Blue Jays have a day off Thursday before continuing the six-game homestand with a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles. R.A. Dickey (6-8) is scheduled to start Friday nights opener against Baltimores Jason Hammel (7-4). ... The Rockies will continue their nine-game road swing with stops in Washington and Boston. ... Toronto has an all-time record of 9-6 against Colorado. The home team has swept every series. ... Attendance was 27,235. Fake Rangers Jerseys . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. 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On the first day of the fifth Test at Trent Bridge, as Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh were batting out the whole day on the way to an opening stand of 329, a colleague and I, with our deadlines passed, decided to have a well-earned pint. As we chatted in the Members pavilion, I looked up at the row of old bats screwed onto the panelling above the bar. There, in the centre, was a dark brown one with a metal plaque under it which said it was Victor Trumpers bat from his legendary 1902 tour to England.On that tour Trumper made 11 first-class centuries, one of them in a session in the Old Trafford Test. Admittedly the rest were made against the counties but, as ever with Trumper, it was the style of those innings that became part of the legend. Trumper entertained the English crowds and, as he always did, he won their hearts. He scored quickly and with great flair, prompting Wisden Cricketers Almanack to describe him as the best batsman in the world.Id always been intrigued by the legend of the tall, dashing batsman who played with carefree grace. In the history books I read as a boy that he was described as Australias greatest batsman before Don Bradman. But it was legend of the man himself that made him special. Bradmans legend was based on unbelievably phenomenal statistics. He was the run machine par excellence. Trumper was the artist, the genius who cared more for his team-mates and his fans than for his place in the record books. Trumpers status could easily be missed by a look through the statistics, but to read a biography was, and still is, to be entranced by a man as charming off the field as he was on it.Trumper was generous to a fault, casual in his dress, kind to children, and greatly loved by opponents and team-mates. Truly, a romantic figure. Trumper ran a sports store in Sydney but was no great success as a businessman. He was not hard enough, giving free equipment or discounts to people short of funds. During his career, there was a stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground called the Penny Stand - because it cost a penny to get in. Legend has it that Trumper would always arrive early enough, and with pockets full of enough loose change, to walk over to the side of the ground opposite the dressing rooms to hand out pennies to poor boys hoping to get in. They came to expect Vic to give them a day at the famous ground to see their heroes in action.Steve Waughs love of his battered old baggy green cap was inspired by Trumpers attitude to his Australian skull cap. He cherished it and never wanted a new one. To him, the first was so precious that a replacement would not do. He was also celebrated for his casual approach to his playing clothes. Not for him the adage that if you cant be a cricketer you should at least look like one. After a days play Trumper would roll up hiis cream trousers and drop them in his kitbag.dddddddddddd The next morning he would simply unfurl them, put them on and head out for the days play. He was obviously interested in substance rather than appearance, and I loved him for it. One of the reasons Trumpers Test average ended below 40 was that he never sought easy runs. If the weather was fine and the pitch flat he usually threw his wicket away to give his team-mates a chance to make runs. But when the pitch was wet and treacherous, Trumper, as the senior batsman, would take full responsibility. This was not merely a whim. It is said that at New South Wales practice sessions he would slip the groundsman a shilling or two to prepare one wet wicket at the far end of the table. After a net on a good pitch, he would go up to the end and practise on a sticky. I remember going to the same nets for a state squad practice session and looking up to the far end and wondering if that was the strip the great Trumper used for his wet-weather practice.Years earlier I was a teenager playing lower grades in Sydney club cricket. One day we played at Redfern Oval, a summer dustbowl of a ground ravaged by a winter of rugby league. Before play, as we inspected the unwelcoming pitch, a team-mate pointed out to me a window on the second storey of a building across the road, behind the sightscreen. He said it was the window Trumper broke with a straight drive about 60 years before. It was a big, big hit. The window had been left broken for years, in tribute to the great batsman. It had been repaired by the time I saw it. I think the building is sill there but the state government has major plans to develop the area and who knows what fate awaits it.I once saw some action footage of Trumper batting. Hes wearing a large white hat, looks tall and elegant - more the shape of Rahul Dravid than Sachin Tendulkar. Hes facing a fast bowler and late-cuts him with aplomb, a classy, clever shot and exactly what youd expect from a batsman said to have had three shots for every ball. The only other footage Ive seen of Trumper is that of his funeral at Waverley cemetery in the eastern suburb of Sydney in 1915. Like so many romantic heroes, Trumper died young, at 37, after a few years of sad, public decline. It was a heros funeral, the horse-drawn hearse followed by dignitaries and the parade watched by thousands of the fans who loved their Vic more than any other player.If the mature Bradman stands for the ruthless pursuit of success that typifies modern Australian cricket, Trumper stands for the spirit of an earlier age, for a more carefree approach that put style and entertainment above results.And yes, my colleague and I had a ritual pint under that bat every afternoon of that Test back in 1989. ' ' '